Nocturne
Nocturne has been in this time and world for a few years now, and is known from her time as a hero with Excalibur along with other random sightings. Background Nocturne hails from an alternate future in which she's the daughter of Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) and the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff). The years of her development were spent at Xavier's school with her father, her mother remaining on active duty with the Avengers while maintaining a romance with Nightcrawler. While she was young, Talia (or TJ) grew up in an environment that included much training, often more than she thought herself capable of handling. In fact, there were many times where TJ resented her father for how hard he pushed her, or at least she wished he'd be a little less business and a little more "just dad" once in a while. The Kurt she knew was hard, determined to shape her into something useful, and they didn't have the kind of father-daughter bond she'd have liked. Deep down she thought he was constantly disappointed in her so she was driven to succeed and make him proud. She knew their world was a harsh, dangerous one and the reasons for constant training were necessary, so more than anything else the issue was more about was how they were forced to prepare for potential problems. Already taking after her father in her physical appearance, as she grew to maturity she developed the ability to "jump" into people and possess them along with a more offensive power in the use of "hex-bolts," concussive force blasts of energy drawn from the dimension Nightcrawler accesses when he teleports. However, she had no teleportation of her own. Once she was deemed ready, TJ earned the right to join the X-Men in an official capacity with Nocturne selected as her codename, a tie-in of sorts to her father's. Thanks to the training she'd been put through she performed well on missions and quickly gained the experience she needed to be relied on as a valuable teammate, but tragedy would soon strike the entire school. While possessed by the Shadow King, Wolverine murdered Professor Xavier. In the process, Xavier tried tried to stop Logan mentally and when he died Logan was physically damaged enough that he was unable to walk without a full body suit. When the Phoenix Force consumed Jean Grey, Cyclops left. He'd already hated Wolverine and he blamed him for the deaths of both Xavier and Jean. It left the X-Men in a difficult state but they pressed on. Wolverine had little choice but to transition into the "Xavier role" since he was no longer capable of going out in the field with the team and Nightcrawler took on the role of field leader along with Shadowcat (often called "Aunt Kate" by TJ), Thunderbird, Phoenix (in the empty body of Colossus) and Armageddon, Apocalypse's son. Kurt continued to push TJ and at times she felt like she was more of a hindrance than a help, but there would come a time when the training and preparation paid off. Cyclops was gone but not to be forgotten, returning with a group of his own to seek vengeance on Wolverine during an attack on the mansion. Nocturne quickly became involved, first by getting the students to help delay the attack, which gave her the chance to possess Armageddon. Cyclops found Wolverine and nearly killed him when no resistance was put up, but while controlling Armageddon she used his telekinetic abilities to make Logan's claws extend into the chest of Cyclops. It stopped him without killing him, the placement of the claws so specific, and the battle ended. As a result of proving herself, the relationship she had with her father began to improve. Over the next year or so, she maintained her role as a full member of the X-Men and joined them on numerous missions to deal with threats and help others. Armageddon had seemingly left to join his father, Apocalypse, setting up a machine called a Chronal Disruptor. During the fight that ensued, Armageddon switched sides back to the X-Men, having secretly set up a trap intended to disable it when Shadowcat phased into the Disruptor. Nocturne was too close to it and it opened up a rift that sent her back in time to another world: this one. The only thing the X-Men there were able to tell was that she'd wound up somewhere else, but that was all they'd find out before the machine was destroyed. There was no way to find her, no way to go after her. Nocturne was alone. Left unconscious by the effects of the time travel, she was found by a couple and taken into their home. They were sympathetic to mutants and with her obvious in both appearance and costume, they decided it was best she not be left vulnerable to be harmed by someone not as tolerant. For the better part of two days TJ slept, awakening only long enough to eat and drink a little. Once she got her energy back she was up and about again and upon reading the newspaper she was startled to find out the year. Somehow, she'd ended up in the past! After asking a few questions she came to suspect she might not even be in her own world any longer. Certain historical events simply did not add up. Checking on their computer - the technology seemed so inferior to what she was used to, but at least Google was around! - she was relieved to find this world did have an Xavier's. Hesitant to call them, figuring they'd think her some crazy person, she decided to make her way there on her own. TJ had to borrow some money for transportation to Salem Center, as she'd somehow ended up in the Boston area. She tried to tell them she'd send the money back after she got to where she needed to go but they refused. They knew something strange was going on even if she didn't give them the details, and they told her to consider it a gift. In fact, she'd had to convince them not to simply drive her there themselves. TJ didn't know what to expect and she needed time to think on the way there. Who would she see? How would they react? Would there be anyone there she knew from her own time? Most importantly, would there be any way to get back home? Only one way to find out. Things got off to a rocky start as TJ had some trouble adapting to some people being different from what she expected, but she began to settle in before long. At the time, things were in a state of flux around Xavier's and there wasn't any room for her on the X-Men roster, so the Professor helped introduce her to a man who would help create a government-based team in England, Pete Wisdom. There, she became one of Britain's heroes as Excalibur took on all manner of tasks while based out of Muir Island, some of them supernatural. Along the way they established a contract for tech from Stark International, and she was sometimes seen hanging out with Tony Stark himself. However, Excalibur's time would come and go and TJ returned to the United States after a couple years or so. Lately, TJ's been around Xavier's again, helping out in an advisory role as she decides what her next step is going to be. She's developed some contacts with people in other groups as well, which may or may not lead to other possibilities in her future. Personality *Energetic: Nocturne is at times a bubbly, cheerful free spirit, quick with a joke or light comment, easy to get along with and sometimes, almost annoyingly persistent in demanding attention one way or another. Tell her to lay off the sugar and caffeine and she'll say she didn't have any. *Playful: Tying in with her energetic nature, Nocturne can be a very playful elf. Practical jokes may occur when she's around and she's not shy about poking someone, messing up someone's hair or teasing. Usually she knows when to quit, but not always. *Serious: As light-hearted as Nocturne often is, sometimes her mood swings to the opposite end of the spectrum. When she's not fully visible and cheerful whether people like it or not, the contrast to that side can lead to her being almost impossible to find, not to mention being difficult to crack through an outer shell of seriousness. More often than not it's evident when she's focused on a mission, but there's no telling when a topic will leave her brooding and single-minded on something specific. *Heroic: It's kind of the nature of being who and what she is, though of course the alternative is to be a villain. Nocturne never thought about going down that path since she grew up at Xavier's and was trained extensively by her father along with having those "do good and help others" thoughts impressed upon her from an early age. She takes it to heart, ready to put her own safety on the line to ensure that of others. *Take-Charge: There's a bit of a natural leader in Nocturne, though not necessarily in a tactical sense. Some people are just charismatic and forceful enough that others listen first and wonder why second. Especially when a mission is involved and she has her eyes on the prize, she can get in that "follow me" mode pretty easily. *Confident: Nocturne is a young woman who knows what she is, knows what she can do, and isn't afraid to show it. Being seen in a crowd where she's stared at is of no consequence to her. In fact, sometimes she'll dress up to see just how many heads she can turn. When it comes to her abilities she did go through stretches where she doubted herself and worried that her father didn't think enough of her, but before she was yanked into this world she'd performed well enough that she finally earned Nightcrawler's difficult-to-get approval. That was all the validation she needed. *Homesick: Some people move to another city and long for the way things were back home. For others, it takes another state or even country to do it. Nocturne is from a completely different future and knows very little of the place she's ended up in. She has no way to get back home, no way to contact those she knew to let them know she's all right, and sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world to cope with. Of all the things that would make her curl up and cry, this is by far the number one reason. *Decisive: When Nocturne needs to act, she'll take steps to get the job done as efficiently as possible (while avoiding killing unless there's no alternative). In her reality, when Cyclops was about to kill Logan she possessed Armageddon and took control of his telekinetic abilities long enough to pop Logan's claws into Cyclops' chest. She did it with such finesse that he was stopped but not killed, but she didn't hesitate to do it in order to end the attack. That's how she is. Logs Pre-Vamp Logs *2012-04-30 - Alex Can Cook? - Alex manages not to set off fire alarms. Talk centers around Creek's issues and TJ's not buying it. *2013-10-15 - The End of Time: Carnival Time - Part 2 - While trying again to enjoy the Carnival, another time mishap happens. Will people stop jinxing the Carnival?! *2014-01-19 - SDR: Èmó in Chinatown - Starfire and a demonic Raven discuss recent events with Nocturne over some Chinese food in Chinatown Category:Marvel Feature Category:Marvel Hero Category:North Salem Category:Marvel Available